Not Everything is as it Seems
by HextechZydrate
Summary: a little fanfic i decided to write, based on a quest i was doing while playing World of Warcraft. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

"What in the world?" Rudelska woke in her inn room to a party outside of her door. She briefly noted that the sun was just rising, and decided she should probably be up anyway.

She had an audience with the King of Stormwind today.

She didn't have time for luxuries, so she took merely a few minutes to wash up in the shower, brushed out her hair, and make sure her horns were still in tact. Looking closely in the mirror, grazing over the fine features of her light purple skin and slightly neon blue eyes, she contemplated on the long life she has had, and how far she had come.

She was surely a long way from home, never to return to the place. A twinge of sadness hit her before she continued her morning.

Her gear was heavy. The best plate armor you could literally find, and it took her a long time to get a hold of pants went on first, then the boots, then everything else followed in an unorganized fashion. She yawned before the helmet went on, too. She sheathed her axe on her back before exiting the room abruptly, startling the party-goers when she emerged. She smirked as they cleared a path for her.

She turned in her key, as well as the money for the night, before turning to a face-full of gods knows what. She spat and tried to rub it away, but it seemed to absorb itself into her skin. She rubbed her eyes before looking around viciously to find the culprit. It wasn't hard. The drunk fool was doing it to a lot of people. Rudelska puffed her chest out before walking over and swiftly picking him up by his jerkin and looking him in the face.

"Old man," She said in a hushed tone, "What was that you just threw on my face?"

"That was a..." The rest of his sentence became inaudible with drunk slur. Rudelska shook him once, before asking again.

"What?"

"Polymorph. It's a party. Lighten up!" He said. Rudelska stared at the man before releasing her hold on him. He dropped to his feet and stumbled into a barmaid, who whined about it. Rudelska swiftly ran outside and looked into the trow at her reflection. Sure enough, she had been turned into a human woman look-a-like. She patted at her face with a bit of panic. Not only that, but her armor had disguised itself as well. A helmet was now a purple, large rimmed hat; her chest plate a measly black that was low cut and completely obvious; plated legs were now grey pants, and the boots were in the likeness of a pirate, matching the shirt. This. Was. Horrifying.

"No time to go to a mage to get-" Her words hitched as she realized even her voice was different. She hung her head, nearly touching the water that the horse drank from. "Oye Vey..." She turned around and sighed. She'd have to go, looking like this.

Rudelska managed a high pitched whistle to nowhere in the sky. A few seconds later, a serpent descended from the sky, oranges and reds decorating its scales. It was magnificent. Rudelska admired it with a smirk, as she had worked so hard to get its trust... Although, she couldn't say he wasn't ornery. She gave him a few fish while petting his scales before climbing into the seat that was made especially for her.

"To the Stormwind Castle." She said, nodding her head. The dragon looked back at her skeptically. She sighed. "I know. I don't even sound like me. Please, I don't want to talk about it." The dragon shrugged it off before making his way to the castle.

Since Goldshire was not far, it only took a few minutes to get there. She had planned to get her armor looked at before the meeting, but with the polymorph in effect, she could do nothing but wait for the effect to ware off, and hope that it did so quickly. The dragon landed in the courtyard of the keep and began to ascend the stairs. She quickly dreaded staying at that inn as she hopped to the stone. She pat her mount before turning to the hallway that would be her fate, and her mount flew off, almost as if to anticipate the worst._ Thanks for the vote of confidence._ She thought bitterly.

She took long, but slower strides up the long hallway, and as the guards stared at her with quizzical looks, the only thought she had was: Why do they make all their building with large, anticipating hallways?

"Rudelska, the Twilight Vanquisher..." The announcer started, but trailed off as he saw her. She nodded for him to continue as she approached the king. The announcer cleared his throat. "The Twilight Vanquisher, and Protector of Exodar." She knelt to his majesty, King Wyrnn.

"Rise." He spoke. As she did, he gave her a small smile, and she confirmed his thoughts with a small sigh.

"Forgive my appearance, Your Grace, but I'm here as you have asked. What is it you wish of me?"

"I need some errands ran around my city." He said as he motioned to one of his men. He strode over with a few papers in his hands. "Samuelson will brief you in." She nodded, although skeptical of his intentions. Couldn't he get his guards to do it?

"There's some strange things going on. We've had word about the Twilight invaders being spotted in the city, and we'd like you to check some things out, if you're able." He said. Quickly, she looked over the papers of proof here and there and looked up.

"In Stormwind?" She blinked. "That seems odd."

"Yes, it's quite unnerving to me as well, Rudelska." King Wyrnn nodded.

"Father!" A voice came before she could get another word out. They all blinked towards the voice that had boomed the hall. A striking blonde, young, and determined walked up to the King without hesitation. "What is the meaning of this?" He motioned to two guards running behind him to keep his pace. The King chuckled.

"If you're going on adventures, I need someone to keep an eye on _you_."

"I am the _Prince_. I believe I could be very _capable_ of handling myself!" He sighed. "Besides, they literally wont let me go anywhere. I'm having a hard time getting to the _Courtyard_, let alone anywhere else."

"Your Majesty-" One of the guards protested, but King Wrynn held his hand up and he was silenced.

"Fine. I will make an exception, just this once. We have quite a handy guest in our quarters." He motioned to Rudelska and she blinked, her mouth wide open. The Prince looked over and smiled.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I did not mean to interrupt your audience." She smiled back.

"Actually, it quite works out." The King piped up. Rudelska flicked her eyes to him, dreading the words about to slip from his lips. "During your interrogation, would you mind taking my son along with you?" She took in a long breath and held it before releasing it slowly, and quietly. She smiled.

"If it pleases you, Your Majesty." She responded, nearly through gritted teeth. He smirked slightly.

"It does." He mused. _Damnit, Wyrnn..._ She thought behind that smile she faked so well. She rolled up the scrolls and stuck them in one of various pouches attached to her hip.

"I'll start at the docks then." One of the paper's mentioned something about the workers there knowing a thing or two about the Twilight Invaders. Samuelson nodded and King Wrynn pushed his son towards Rudelska. The boy gave a sneer to his father, but followed as Rudelska strode down the longest hallway in her lifetime.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm sorry to pester you about this. When I mentioned to my father I wanted to get out more, this isn't exactly what I had in mind." He sighed. She looked back at him.

"Me either." She said briskly. He looked a little pained at the response, but kept it shut, since he knew it was inconveniant to them both. She sighed. "I'm Rudelska, your Majesty."

"Please, Rudelska, call me Anduin." He grinned. She blinked and smiled back at the blond.

"Of course."

At the front steps, she looked around in the sky for her dragon, with no clear sight, thanks to the sun.

"I... don't think there are any Twilight's up there." Anduin said behind her, slightly puzzled by her actions. She flipped around with a really sarcastic look about her, before putting her fingers to her lips and letting out the loudest whistle she could muster. The Prince's eyes widened and blinked rapidly at the gesture. They widened even further when a gust of wind hit Rudelska's back, and she smirked.

"This is Kaul, Prince Anduin." She pat the Golden Dragon on the head, and he purred gently. "He'll be getting us around today."

"You ride him?" He seemed overwhelmed with excitement, as well as skepticism. She chuckled.

"See for yourself." She hoisted herself onto the dragon's shoulders and sat in the seat with a satisfied smile. She kicked out a lever and an extra seat slid in front of her, significantly lower so that she could still see while driving. "You're turn." She held her hand out to him.

"Well..." He looked a little nervous, but took her hand in aid to him getting himself on the mount. After pulling him up, with some effort, she pulled on the reigns. "Do we really need to fly to get there. It is inside the city."

"With respect, your maj-Uh... Anduin, but you don't get out very much." She chuckled slightly, and he threw a skeptical look over his shoulder. "To the docks!" She said, and the dragon flew up, and fast, much to Anduin's surprise. After a few seconds, the docks came into view, and the Prince whistled.

"Alright, I'll give you this one. It's a lot bigger than I imagined."

"Thank you." She chuckled. She had Kaul fly around a few times, inspecting it. "Hm..."

"What is it."

"..Nothing." She said as she commanded the "steed" to lower. "That's the problem, however."

To her dismay, nothing was exactly what she got from the men working on the docks. Some of them seemed offended that she would ask such things, others frightened. If they were acting, it was very good.

"Something just doesn't seem right here..." Anduin said under his breath.

"You don't say..." Rudelska said to herself as she looked through some of the scrolls given to her.

"It's like he's sending us on a wild goose chase. Why would Samuelson send us to our own docks?" She looked over at the Prince, who was deep in thought with his chin between his fingers. She blinked before giggling, which caused him to snap from his day dreaming and look over. "What?"

"Nothing." She mused, putting the scrolls back into her pouch. "Let's try the Old Stormwind area."

"Old Stormwind?" He blinked.

"Yes. The city continues to expand itself, and there are several places that...are..." She blinked at him, as he was merely staring at her, befuddled. "What?"

"I'm trying to figure out something about you."

"About me?" She seemed skeptical as she raised an eyebrow.

"You know so much about war, and about this city, and about many places. Why did you chose this life over a simple one?" He asked. She shook her head slightly, her mouth barely hanging open.

"I... suppose I don't understand. What kind of life should I be having?"

"With your good looks, i'm sure you could've married anyone you saw fit." He stated. "You could've had a good home life, with kids and-" His speech was interuppted by an erruption of laughter, from Rudelska. "What's so funny?!" He almost demanded.

"Excuse me... Your highness, but I think you understand very little about me to make that sort of assumption."

"And what should I assume?"

"Nothing. As i should assume nothing about you, except that you have a title that trumps mine." She wiped the tears from her face. "But thank you, for the laugh." She clicked her tongue as she turned, and Kaul came to her side. "Shall we go then?"

Anduin seemed less than pleased, but threw himself aboard the back of the golden dragon, and stubbornly so. Rudelska rolled her eyes, still grinning, and proceeded to get on herself. She commanded the beast to take them to a part of the city no one ever goes to anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

It was quite in ruins, but Rudelska could make out shapes. Moving shapes.

"That seems odd." She said as they hovered there. "This place has been abandoned for quite some time... Yet i see people down there."

"What is this place?" Anduin inquired.

"A place that your war has breached."

"You mean _our_ war." He tried to correct.

"Oh, no. I very much meant what I said." Rudelska lowered her mount somewhere safe before they both hopped off .The look he gave was that of confusion, but a twinge of anger. "We should try to avoid confrontation, if we can. But... I want to check out some things here."

Anduin nodded an agreement before they began sneaking through.

It was a harder task than imagined. There were lots of strange people walking around, clad in what looked like twilight robes... but none of them seemed mentally stable. One of the buildings seemed heavily guarded, but getting inside was no problem. Down inside and around the corner, in the middle of the next room was an agent of the SI:7, getting interrogated, and Rudelska decided right then that there had been enough sneaking.

"Hyah!" She jumped in, flailing her axe and surprising the twilight guards, and killed them dead with little hesitation. She flung the blood off her axe before putting it back into the sheath on her back.

"Thank god..." The agent said as she untied him.

"What in the gods names are you doing down here?" She breathed. Once fully untied, he slumped into her shoulder.

"What did they do to you?" Anduin asked as he approached them.

"They tried to get information about the weaknesses of Stormwind. I'm not so easily moved." He chuckled, looking up at the two of them. "Wait... Your highness!" He said, trying to stand and salute.

"Please, try not to move too much." Rudelska said as she put him back into the chair. "We're going to get you out of here."

"Please, wait." The agent grasped her arm, and she looked at him concerned. "I heard them whispering something earlier, about the Cathedral. I think they're planning to do something horrible." Rudelska nodded at the agent, digging into her pouch.

"Can you make it out?" She asked. Anduin seemed appalled by this.

"Yeah, I think so." He answered. Rudelska pulled out a dagger from her pocket and handed it to him.

"This is all I have, but it should work for now." She said.

"No problem." He motioned. Anduin finally protested.

"I thought we were_ rescuing_ him. Now you're_ leaving_ him?" He came over and gawked at her, to which she replied with an eyebrow raise.

"No offense... but it's normally hard to catch a SI:7 Agent off guard. They're more deadly with a weapon." She looked back to the agent. "So, i'm assuming, there's an inside man, in the city." The agent nodded at her.

"I'll be just fine. Make sure nothing happens to the people inside the Cathedral." The nodded at each other before Rudelska stood and snagged Anduin's arm.

"Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

She didn't waste time, whistling to her dragon from the large crack in the building, which he swooped down to. Rudelska helped Anduin out, basically pushing him down onto the dragon. He was less than pleased, but could say nothing as she hopped on herself.

"Hyah!" She exclaimed as they took off towards the cathedral. It was a quick flight, and even before Kaul had landed, Rudelska had jumped off and took off into the building.

"Slow down!" Anduin yelled behind her as he attempted to get off and keep up. She already dashed into the building and jogged up to the priest there.

"What is the meaning of this rushed intrusion?!" He exclaimed as Rudelska approached. She gave a small bow, before pleading to him.

"Please, allow me into the lowest part of the Cathedral. I fear the worst, for everyone inside."

"Who has informed you of this?" He demanded.

"An agent who was kidnapped by the Twilight Invaders." The priest seemed skeptical at first. "Please, we may not have much time."

"Fine." He sighed, pointing towards the entrance into the lower cellar. "That way gets you to the lowest part of the cathedral."

"Thank you." She bowed. She turned to go that way, and noticed Anduin had finally caught up. They said something about the Prince visiting with excited voices, but she paid no mind as she dipped into the entryway and quickly made her way down the stairs. Upon reaching the floor, a crazed Twilight worshiper met her there.

"So it's true." Anduin said behind her in a hushed tone. Rudelska nodded and then passed the crazy women on the floor. The next room was certainly a sight to see. An enormous pile of bombs was placed on the alter, with a ticking clock attached to one of them. Anduin's eyes widened as he stepped into the room.

"We need to diffuse that bomb." Rudelska said as she approached.

"Not so fast!" A voice shouted from behind Anduin. Rudelska turned just in time to see him raise his sword to the Prince.

"MOVE!" She shouted before tackling the boy, but not without its casualties. The sword of the man who shouted hit her leg and she cried out.

"No one shall ruin the Twilight's plan!" The man shouted, raising his sword again. Rudelska kicked him in an effort to buy herself some time. The man hit his back against the wall, losing his grip on his weapon, and it plunged into his stomach. He slid to the ground. Sighing, Rudelska stood and limped to the bomb. She was able to unhook the bomb with the clock from the rest of the pile, careful to make sure there wasn't another hidden within the pile. She then began to limp out.

"You shouldn't move. You're hurt!" Anduin had brushed himself off and walked over to her, before he noticed the bomb.

"Would you do it then?" She handed him the bomb. "Run. Run to Kaul. Take him into the air, and just before it blows, drop it. He'll keep you safe. Hurry." He stared at her for a moment before nodding and dashing off, leaving her to limp.

Anduin ran as fast as his legs could muster. The adrenaline coursed through him as he reached the top of the stairs and dashed through the Cathedral. Upon getting outside, he quickly mounted the dragon.

"Up! Hurry!" He said, almost pleading. The dragon responded and took them up into the air as quickly as he could. Anduin kept tabs on the time as they continued high enough to where he couldn't even see the city.

5,4,3,2... Anduin dropped it, even though Kaul had continued up. The momentum of the explosion pushed them even more upward and threw the Dragon's balance off. They went sailing sideways, and soon, downward. Anduin kept his hold on Kaul, but they had begun falling too fast.

"KAUL!" He shouted over the rushing wind, but it seemed to be uneffective.

Below, Rudelska had made her way outside the Cathedral, in time to catch the explosion of the bomb. She was relieved, expecting to find them coming to greet her. At first, she saw nothing in the billows of smoke, and then, out of nowhere, she saw falling, and the figure of the Prince flailing as he tried to wake up the dragon.

"Shit." She said, pushing through her pain to make a dead sprint to the canals. Once there, she put her fingers to her lips, took in the biggest breath she could, and let out a whistle.

The whistle rang into Anduin's ears, and he shot a devastated look towards the place the noise came from. He only caught a glimpse of the girl before being tossed and pulled around as the dragon up-righted itself, just before reaching the canal waters. Anduin caught his breath as the dragon lifted itself up and over to the exhausted, relieved girl.

"You're... Dragon... almost... KILLED ME." Anduin shouted, hopping off and stumbling away from the dragon. Rudelska caught him, wincing slightly at the movement she shouldn't have made.

"What? I-"

"You SAID he would keep me SAFE!" He shouted again.

"Well, what did YOU do?" She asked. He scoffed, looking up to her appalled.

"What did- Oh, I never!" He pulled himself away from her and brushed himself off. "How DARE you!"

"How dare I?!" She glared at him. "You are not the ONLY one who ALMOST DIED." She said with a raised voice. "I could've died pushing you out of the way of that MADMAN. My Calf is STILL bleeding!" She pointed to it to make her point. He looked between it and her face. "And not only THAT, but you were going to land in the WATER. The only thing you would've done is GOTTEN. WET!" She yelled before making a disgruntled growl at him before limping back to the Cathedral, grumbling the entire way there. Anduin merely stared after her.

"In all my life, the only person to yell at me like that was my father." He said out loud. The dragon seemed to chuckle in response, which pulled Anduin from his trance. He looked to the creature with a glare. "Oh, hush." He then proceeded to follow her in.


	5. Chapter 5

Rudelska kicked the body of the man who had given her the nice wound. Thanks to the master first aid trainer there, it was bandaged up and feeling much better... but she still didn't like it. She patted at him after kicking the sword away (just in case), and a parchment crinkled somewhere within his robes. She narrowed her eyes, digging for it, and pulling out a scroll. She moved away from the body, opening the scroll as Anduin approached. She looked it over at least twice before looking up at him.

"Anduin, you were right." He blinked at her before grinning.

"See? That wasn't so hard. I accept your apology." He nodded. Rudelska gave him a wary look.

"...While i am sorry that you nearly dipped your head in smelly water, that would not be the thing i'm referring to." She stepped up to him. "We have been on a wild goose chase, like you said. One that was intended for one, or both of us, to die." She handed him the scroll. He gave a confused look as he took it, looking down to read it. He blinked, looking it over again and again. He looked up, infuriated.

"Where was this?"

"I found it on him." She pointed to the dead man still leaning against the wall. She walked over to the pile of bombs and glared. "What i want to know is, How they got all of these down here, undetected?" She turned back to Anduin. "I think we should report back to your father."

"Yes, I think it's about time for that." He rolled up the scroll and put it in his belt, holding out his hand to her. Rudelska blinked, her mouth opening to say something, but not sure what to say. "Oh, come on." He reached out, snagging her hand, and began leading her on a brisk walk out of the dungeon looking area, and outside of the Cathedral. The entire way, she blushed gently, trying to hide it behind the ridiculous hat the poly-morph had placed upon her.

She'd never held hands before. She was bred to be a fighter. She didn't have time for those strange luxuries, but it struck her as they waited for Kaul, that Anduin may have been flirting with her. That was the reason for all these weird questions, and strange actions. This made her blush deepen.

"Are you alright?" He asked suddenly. She made sure not to look at him, even though her insides were turning over with nervousness.

"Fine! Fine." She said. He laughed slightly.

"We'll discuss this later, then." He said. That made her more nervous. She hopped on Kaul before he could say another word about it. She flicked the reigns of the dragon and he flew off towards the Courtyard once more for that day. As they approached, Rudelska's nervousness was replaced by fury, as she remembered what task they were about to embark on. She quickly hopped off, followed by Anduin as she made her way up the long hallway, once more. The announcer took a breath, but she merely held her hand up.

"Save it." She said. Even the Prince didn't care for it today. King Wrynn looked to her with confusion as she merely gave a nod to him. She held her hand out to Anduin, who gave her the scroll. "Your Majesty, I'm afraid we've found a few things you may not enjoy hearing." She started. Intrigued, the king leaned forward.

"Go on."

"We found nothing at the docks, as we had been led to believe." She stated. "Upon further inspection of the Old Stormwind, it was crawling with crazed people who claimed themselves as Twilight Followers." To this the King's brow furrowed. "Even more disturbing, one of the SI:7 agents had been compromised inside a crumbling building."

"Outrageous!" Samuelson exclaimed as he approached. She held up her hand to him before he could say more.

"Wait your turn. It will be shortly." She breathed. To this, the King's ears perked up. Samuelson looked less than pleased to be silenced. "Upon rescuing this agent, Anduin and I discovered there was an immense pile of bombs planted under the Cathedral."

"Bombs? IN the Cathedral?!" The King looked angered. "Was that the explosion I heard of?"

"Yes, your Majesty." She nodded gently. "And as I was compromised, your son disposed of the bomb before it could do real damage." King Wrynn looked to Anduin with a blink. "However, the pile that it was set upon is still there, and should be taken care of as soon as possible." The King nodded.

"Yes, absolutely."

"Which brings me to my last concern." Rudelska handed the scroll to King Wrynn. "The man who was guarding the bombs was carrying this on him." King Wrynn opened the scroll and read it over. His face changed from concern to anger, looking to be reading over it once more. He stood and looked to Samuelson fiercely. The man returned his look with concern.

"What is the meaning of THIS!?" He forced the scroll into the man's hands. Samuelson scrambled with it before looking it over. Rudelska and Anduin took a good step back as his face changed with different emotions. First, he looked up at Rudelska with anger, then to the King with a pleading expression.

"Your Majesty, I dont-"

"Is that not _your_ signature at the bottom of_ that_ parchment, stating to blow up _MY_ Cathedral?" Samuelson's face dropped at the confrontation of his King.

"T-there must be some mistake-"

"Then please, Samuelson. Explain to me why there are Twilight _still_ in my city, when_ You_ were supposed to be taking care of it!" He shouted. The echo boomed around in the hall and everyone was stunned to silence. Rudelska peeked Anduin out of the corner of her eye, as he did for her. She nodded slightly and very slowly, began reaching for the axe on her back.

Samuelson broke out in a fit of laughter, and everyone was stunned once again. He dropped the parchment and King Wrynn gave a scowl. "Oh, please, _your majesty_." The man mocked as he stepped to the middle of the room. "The Twilight have always been here. The very foundations of Stormwind were built up by the Twilight." He turned to Rudelska. "I had planned to start an all out war with the Horde, by blowing up one of the main structures in Stormwind. After that, then the Twilight could take out those who remained, and be the leaders of both factions. I would get a hefty prize to my name." He shook his head.

"And here I stand, all my years of planning foiled by a damned Dranaei, and the Prince of a fool." Rudelska had a firm grasp on her axe now, and she pulled it out to wield it. The various guards around the room took the same action. "Now, i suppose i'll just have to kill you all!" Samuelson's laugh turned into a demonic growl as his body shifted and transformed into a giant, bug-like creature. It was pink and purple and green all over, with many arms. Rudelska took a few steps back, taking Anduin with her. Several of the guards rushed to his side, as well as the King's. The bug launched at Rudelska, who swiftly dodged it, losing her hat in the process. Her red hair fell out and around her shoulders. She took a second to look at it.

"A red head? Really?" She groaned before launching at the thing and slicing a couple of his arms away. It screeched, pulling back. She launched herself at it again, stabbing it once or twice before it attempted to retaliate. It flung her away, but she caught herself in a strange position on the floor, making her leg shoot pain up into her hip. She winced before pushing herself off the floor and leaping onto the bug. It thrashed and screeched, attempting to get her off, but it was futile. She raised her axe, and with a battle cry, slammed it down into the bug's head. The bug's screeching died down and its arms dropped. She pulled the axe out with a bit of effort, before the bug began to fall forward. She pushed away from it and landed on the ground safely as its crash echoed in the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you alright, your Majesties?" She said, looking to both of the royals as she flung the blood from her axe and onto the bug. She wiped what remained onto her pants before sheathing it. Anduin approached her with a slow forming grin as King Wrynn nodded to her.

"Thank you, Rudelska. For all of this. I'm more than grateful for your actions today." He said. He motioned to the guards to take care of the bleeding creature in the middle of the room.

"That was amazing!" Anduin said to Rudelska. She grinned in response. "Where did you learn to do all that?"

"I've been doing it for a long time." She chuckled.

"That was really great. You saved us all in there." He grinned. Rudelska shrugged.

"I did what any loyal citizen of Stormwind would do." She shrugged.

"Listen," He took her hands in his, which surprised her. She looked down and back up at him, "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. My first day out and I was put in a compromising position. You understand how stressful that can be." He chuckled. Rudelska merely nodded in response. "However, I enjoyed our time together. It was very exhilarating, watching you work." She realized she couldn't hide her blush under her hat, as it was across the room and gulped.

"Thank you..." She said quietly.

"I would like to see you again." He stated. She blinked. He waited for an answer as thoughts in her head tumbled around. One stood out clear of the days events: POLY-MORPH.

She realized he had begun to like someone who didn't actually exist. She sighed. "I don't think so." She pulled her hands from his and walked over to snatch her hat from the floor.

"Wait... Why? Was it me?" He asked, following her. She swiftly put her hat on her head.

"I'm not who you think I am, Anduin."

"Is it what Samuelson said? About a Dranaei?" He asked. She took in a breath and turned to him.

"Anduin, today has been great. Really great. I'll admit, I thought you were a sort of snobby Prince who couldn't get what he wanted from Daddy, but I was wrong. I shouldn't judge people like that. You're a person, like everyone else. And a good one at that." She patted his shoulder. "What you did today was amazing. I do like you... You seem like you'd be nice. However... The person you've been with all day today isn't a real one." She patted his shoulder once more before turning on her heels and walking away down the hall.

She felt like the worst person in the world as she approached her dragon. Admittedly, she had really enjoyed their time together, and she had felt something entirely new with him, that she never thought she would experience ever. And while it was a nice feeling, she could not lie to him. Kaul shook and made a little protest to her.

"What am I supposed to do?" She said, her accent changing in the midst. Surprised, she looked down at her hands, and they turned into the blue-ish skin color she'd come to know. Even her armor reappeared. "Looks like it finally faded..." She nodded slightly, getting ready to mount Kaul.

"Wait! He-Rudelska?" A voice said behind her. She closed her eyes, sighing once again. She was going to regret this.

"...Yes." She said, turning to meet Anduin's stare. "I am a Dranaei. The person you came to know is still me. I just look and sound a little different than im sure you expect." She held her arms out. "A poly-morphing potion met my face this morning. That's why I looked the way I did. The last thing i wanted to do was deceive you. Most of the day, I'd been so caught up in the events that I forgot who I was. For that, I am sorry."

The silence between the two was excruciating. The fountain in the courtyard lapped loudly, and the birds abouve them cawed with an annoying tone. Rudelska waited for an answer, and Anduin didn't know what to say. After a moment, she decided maybe nothing needed to be said. She nodded, turning to Kaul and mounting him.

"...Will you be back?" He asked quietly. She looked to him with a blink.

"I suppose I will be." She said. "I have some errands to run here and there." She stated briefly.

"Then... I'll see you soon then?" He asked, approaching Kaul. She tilted her head slightly.

"You... want to see me?" She asked, slightly confused. Anduin grinned.

"Should I make it a demand?" He seemed to tease. She blinked before laughing slightly.

"No... Your Majesty." She smiled. He took a few steps back as she flicked the reigns, sending her souring into the sky. She would return, soon. It was Stormwind, after all.


End file.
